[1] The infirmary block was re-built and became the Sheffield Union Hospital when the workhouse was renamed the Fir Vale Institution in 1906.

[4] In 2012, the Northern General became a major trauma centre providing emergency access to life and limb saving consultant-led care in a wide range of specialisms including anaesthetics, orthopaedics, neurosurgery, geriatrics, and emergency medicine.

It benefited from emergency operating theatres on standby to perform immediate, life-saving surgery as well as a helipad for rapid transport.

[8] The hospital consists of a series of buildings and wings, many of which are named after significant families and individuals from Sheffield, particularly in the steel industry:[9] The critical care department contains the intensive care unit, the high-dependency unit and the post-operative surgical unit while the Clock Tower Building contains the finance department, dining facilities, the volunteers’ office, medical secretaries, security, human resources and the hospital's museum.

An out of hours GP centre for patients with minor illnesses alleviates pressure on the accident and emergency department.